Mexico

		Food For The Poor in Mexico Food For The Poor serves Mexico primarily through Gifts in Kind donations. In 2010 FFP sent containers of: Health care items Personal care items
Food For The Poor ships containers of aid items to Mexico and Central American countries every year.

General Information

	Mexico is a little less than 3 times the size of Texas.

A devaluation of the peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering the worst recession in over half a century. The nation had been making an impressive recovery until the global financial crisis hit in late 2008. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states.

Income inequality remains a problem, and huge gaps remain not only between rich and poor but also between the north and the south, and between urban and rural areas.

Mexicans living abroad sent home less money per year in 2008 for the first time on record as the U.S. slowdown hit migrants' earnings. According to Mexico's central bank, remittances fell 3.6 percent in 2008. This money is the country's second largest source of foreign income after oil revenues.

History

The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule for 3 centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. The elections held in 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that an opposition candidate – Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (PAN) – defeated the ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Interesting Facts

• The official name of Mexico is Estados Únidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States).
• Mexico introduced chocolate, corn, and chilies to the world.
• Mexico is home to a very rare rabbit called the volcano rabbit which lives near Mexican volcanoes.
• The largest wildcat in North America is the jaguar, which can be found in Mexico’s southern jungles.
• Mexico City is built over the ruins of a great Aztec city, Tenochtitlán. Because it is built on a lake, Mexico is sinking at a rate of 6 to 8 inches a year as pumps draw water out for the city’s growing population.
• Of cities in North America, Mexico City has the highest elevation and is the oldest. It is also one of the largest cities in the world.
• Modern Mexicans are a unique blend of many ancient civilizations, including the Olmec, Zapotec, Toltec, Maya, Aztec, Inca, African, French, and Spanish.
• Spanish conquerors brought bullfighting to Mexico, which is now the national sport of Mexico. Bullfighting takes place from November to April, and the Plaza Mexico is the largest bullring in the world.
• The pyramid in Chichen Itza, Mexico was named one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

Demographics